Orion: On Our Way to Mars Again?

December 9, 2014 8:33 PM

20
0

In the midst of a series of technical glitches that delayed the planned launch of the Orion capsule by a Delta IV rocket on Thursday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden is reported to have told NBC News, "We're now on the way to Mars, and that's what's most important."

Uh, no. First of all, we're not anywhere close to being on our way to Mars, or even the Moon, for that matter. Orion is a marvelous spacecraft, but it can't go anywhere on its own; it needs a massive rocket to launch it into space, and that rocket -- the proposed Space Launch System (SLS) -- isn't e...